we recently saw senator carl levin and john mccain teaming up on something that was a little different, a bipartisan chance of the rules in the senate. some democrats don't like that. all republicans will vote against any filibuster rules. host: how does it works right now and what they want to change? guest: if you filibuster a bill, you have actually got to go to before and do the mr. smith goes to washington kind of thing, you have to stay there until you consider any more. democrat all like that. they don't like how republicans are blocking bills on procedural votes per democrats say we want to just get to vote on appeal. they say we're not banning the filibuster, but when we vote on something we don't want to vote on. a procedural on we want to vote on the bill. if you want to vote on the bill, that is still 60 vote threshold, but let's get to the substance. host: for those outside washington, in order to even consider a bill and debate it, they need 60 votes to get there. guest: yes, always, unless there is unanimous consent to move right to it. we saw that with the fiscal cliff